Lamentations 3:8
What does Lamentations 3:8 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:8 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 3:8 means
He cries out, but feels shut out—his prayer seems refused. This is among the hardest pains: not merely suffering, but the fear that God will not listen. The verse articulates the experience of divine silence during chastening, when heaven feels closed and help delayed. Yet the very act of recording this is itself a prayer, a testimony that he still addresses Jehovah. The sense of heaven’s door shut is real, but not final. The chapter will later testify that God does hear and draw near, reminding us that perceived silence is not proof of divine indifference.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Also when I call and cry out, He hath shut out my prayer.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Even when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
Context
After being described as walled in, the sufferer now meets the ceiling: prayer seems to go nowhere. Verses 9–13 will continue with images of blocked roads and God as a hunter targeting him. The emotional arc intensifies: not only is escape prevented, but the sense grows that God Himself opposes him. This prepares for the necessity of a robust confession of God’s character in verses 21–24, which will counter the despair produced by such experiences.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Job 19:7
Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice.
- Lamentations 3:44
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
- Psalms 80:4
O Jehovah God of hosts, How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
- Habakkuk 1:2
O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.
- Psalms 22:2
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest not; And in the night season, and am not silent.
- Matthew 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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